Link: Areas where Alabama can/needs to improve.

Bamabuzzard

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http://espn.go.com/blog/sec/tag/_/name/2015-position-improvement

In their final three games alone, the Crimson Tide gave up 15 completions of 20 yards or longer, including seven of 40 yards or longer. Opposing teams knew they could attack the Tide down the field.
As I read this article I plucked this lil nugget out and asked myself "Self, why is it in the last two to three games of the season we seem to give up these type performances?" Is it because by the end of the season teams have enough tape on us or have had longer to prepare? We don't seem to give up these crazy type stats until the last few games of the season.
 

CrimsonForce

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http://espn.go.com/blog/sec/tag/_/name/2015-position-improvement



As I read this article I plucked this lil nugget out and asked myself "Self, why is it in the last two to three games of the season we seem to give up these type performances?" Is it because by the end of the season teams have enough tape on us or have had longer to prepare? We don't seem to give up these crazy type stats until the last few games of the season.
The final 3 games were the best teams that we faced all year. That has the most to do with it IMO..
 

CrankyFranky

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http://espn.go.com/blog/sec/tag/_/name/2015-position-improvement



As I read this article I plucked this lil nugget out and asked myself "Self, why is it in the last two to three games of the season we seem to give up these type performances?" Is it because by the end of the season teams have enough tape on us or have had longer to prepare? We don't seem to give up these crazy type stats until the last few games of the season.
The final 3 games were the best teams that we faced all year. That has the most to do with it IMO..
Probably a little bit of both. Everybody brings their A game for Bama so the whole season is a long journey. Couple all of that with injuries, fatigue, etc. the last three games are a grind.
 

TiderJack

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The final 3 games were the best teams that we faced all year. That has the most to do with it IMO..
Agreed they were the best teams, but I don't think any of us thought Marshall at the Barn and Jones at OSU were going to do that to us. I could see them running on us but not over the top.
 

B1GTide

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By the mid-point in the season last year, everyone knew that it was your weakness. Fortunately, you didn't face an opponent capable of exploiting that weakness until you got to Auburn. Auburn, Mizzou and OSU all had balanced offenses. You had to respect the running games, but they also had QB/WR combos that could hurt you deep.

You need to eliminate this weakness. You will not win a championship until you do, as every team that you face will push this until you stop it.
 

AlexanderFan

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2/3 games had quarterbacks who could realistically threaten every part if the field with their arms. Missouri was luck, I'm still shaking my head at that game. Less than expected safety play was an issue, as is player development, which is why I think you see a movement towards better teaching coaches.

Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Tapatalk
 

jthomas666

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By the mid-point in the season last year, everyone knew that it was your weakness. Fortunately, you didn't face an opponent capable of exploiting that weakness until you got to Auburn. Auburn, Mizzou and OSU all had balanced offenses. You had to respect the running games, but they also had QB/WR combos that could hurt you deep.

You need to eliminate this weakness. You will not win a championship until you do, as every team that you face will push this until you stop it.
No, all we have to do is pump up the offense and score more points! That worked out so well for Oregon.
 

GrayTide

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is it possible that our players were mentally tired at end of the season..
Were the other teams, auburn, Mizzou and tOSU not also mentally tired, they played the same number of games, don't think that washes. IMO, the secondary was our weak spot all year regardless of who we put back there. The DL did a very good job against the run but still does not get the pass rush which would certainly help out the secondary. Lastly, our LBs seemed to be slow and out of place when covering passes underneath. All of this is to say our defense, for whatever reason, regressed as the season went along and yet the offense almost won the tOSU game. We need a big defensive overhaul if we hope to get back to Atlanta and the NC game.
 

CrimsonEyeshade

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It is worth noting that the two coaches handling the secondary last year are at the top of the food chart.

2/3 games had quarterbacks who could realistically threaten every part if the field with their arms. Missouri was luck, I'm still shaking my head at that game. Less than expected safety play was an issue, as is player development, which is why I think you see a movement towards better teaching coaches.

Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Tapatalk
 

4Q Basket Case

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By the mid-point in the season last year, everyone knew that it was your weakness. Fortunately, you didn't face an opponent capable of exploiting that weakness until you got to Auburn. Auburn, Mizzou and OSU all had balanced offenses. You had to respect the running games, but they also had QB/WR combos that could hurt you deep.

You need to eliminate this weakness. You will not win a championship until you do, as every team that you face will push this until you stop it.
Other than characterizing Missouri's offense as balanced (it was anything but), you nailed it.

Sometimes, the truth is unpleasant.
 

AlexanderFan

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It is worth noting that the two coaches handling the secondary last year are at the top of the food chart.
I would count Saban as half a coach in that the entire rest of the team is also under his direction. Any video you watch he is instructing from one side to the other of the practice field to the other. As good as Kirby is there's a reason the educated members on this board are happy he's returning to the linebackers.
 

RollTide1224

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One thing that bothered me throughout the season and also bothered me last year as well was the way that we blitz. I feel that our blitzing on third down is now totally predicatable and also totally ineffective. If we get a team in 3rd and long we are going to bring some form of disguised pressure that will likely have us rushing 5 or 6 at the QB. Teams know this and they know how to counter it. The other problem with this is that we disguise the pressure so much that the people are too far away from the line to get to the QB.

The game that I recall this most vividly was the Arkansas game. Early on in the game we were stuffing their run and then getting ripped apart on 3rd and long when we decided to blitz the house. Towards the end of the game we decided to stop with that nonsense and just rush 4. This was one of the games that I actually recall Evans and Tim Williams getting into the game and they had a massive effect. Once we switched to this approach we pretty much had no problem stopping their offense.

I would really like see us blitz less and just use the pass rushing specialists that we have when we get a team to 3rd and long or blitz like we are now but focus less on disguising the blitz and more on it actually affecting the QB. A safety coming from 15 yards deep is essentially like playing defense will 10 guys.

To me this was the biggest problem with last years defense, ineffective blitzes which left our inexperienced corners exposed. Despite how many times we were burned on it Arkansas is the only game I can remember where we just said enough and blitzed our 4 best pass rushers and dropped the other 7 in coverage. I'm going to be sorely disappointed if I don't see more of Evans and Williams next year, they are terrors off the edge.
 
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The Ols

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"I would really like see us blitz less and just use the pass rushing specialists that we have when we get a team to 3rd and long or blitz like we are now but focus less on disguising the blitz and more on it actually affecting the QB. A safety coming from 15 yards deep is essentially like playing defense will 11 guys."

How many did you want to play with? :) (Blue Font...)
 

CrimsonEyeshade

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I would count Saban as half a coach in that the entire rest of the team is also under his direction. Any video you watch he is instructing from one side to the other of the practice field to the other. As good as Kirby is there's a reason the educated members on this board are happy he's returning to the linebackers.
All true. Yet many of those same posters cheered Kirby's reassignment to the secondary last year. That leaves us with two conclusions: What he taught didn't work OR his students weren't good enough to put the lessons in place.

I choose door no. 2.
 

JDCrimson

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Really, I think when coaches started breaking down film on our defense most of them correctly saw that long sustained drives were not the answer to prevailing over our defense. However, I think most saw that the only way to get into scoring position was to gamble on longer throws. Most of the teams we faced did not have QBs nor an OL that could maintain pocket presence long enough who could test us deep under this approach. Trickett exposed us in the first game. We all thought that A&M would torch us but he totally lost his composure. Auburn had shown the ability to throw deep with Marshall the last 2 years. Missouri made it the SEC Championship primarily on the passing of Mauk and their strong run defense. OSU/Jones had success throwing deep but primarily because our safeties were playing the QB run almost all night. UF, Arkansas, nor UT could test us with the pass. Even with OM and MSU we respected their QBs and WRs they werent overly dynamic in the passing game.

Honestly, if you are going to play Zone read offense you have to have rangy corners with great speed and quickness to cover man to man - some who can get their head around and make a play on the ball. Knocking down passes is critical in stopping the zone read. Secondly, you need a free safety that can get into position to provide help and play the ball. Everyone else needs to be slanted toward playing the run and middle zone routes. Look, there is no doubt there are more QBs coming out of high school with polished passing skills, passing skill level has improved dramatically along with the expansion of rules favoring offense. When you get QBs, who can throw it throw a tire swing at 30 yards you better be in position to cover.

Our coaches knew what our weakness was all year and I think did a pretty good job of masking it until we encountered injuries and above average QB play. I dont have any reason to believe our DBs were being coached the correct technique consistently but obviously were not consistent in disrupting the WR routes and we not following close enough to the WR such that face guarding was our only real pass defense.
 
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GrayTide

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All true. Yet many of those same posters cheered Kirby's reassignment to the secondary last year. That leaves us with two conclusions: What he taught didn't work OR his students weren't good enough to put the lessons in place.

I choose door no. 2.
I agree with door No. 2. Taking this a step farther; in many games this season the entire defense looked confused and out of place.
 

Bama-94-00

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All true. Yet many of those same posters cheered Kirby's reassignment to the secondary last year. That leaves us with two conclusions: What he taught didn't work OR his students weren't good enough to put the lessons in place.

I choose door no. 2.
Yes, mainly the safeties. Better pass coverage from middle LBers is needed too. We gave up a lot of completions in the middle of the field on 3rd downs (or it sure seemed like it).
 

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